STRIA TERMINALIS LESIONS ATTENUATE MEMORY ENHANCEMENT PRODUCED BY INTRACAUDATE NUCLEUS INJECTIONS OF OXOTREMORINE

The present study examined the role of the stria terminalis in modulat ing the memory enhancement produced by posttraining intracaudate nucle us injection of oxotremorine. Male Sprague-Dawley rats with either sha m operations or bilateral lesions of the stria terminalis (ST) were tr ained on a one-trial inhibitory-avoidance task and received a unilater al posttraining intracaudate injection of either a buffer vehicle or t he cholinergic agonist-oxotremorine (0.3 mu g/0.5 mu l) into a medial region of the caudate nucleus innervated by the ST. Intracaudate injec tion of oxotremorine improved memory in sham-operated rats. Although S T lesions did not affect retention in rats given intracaudate injectio ns of the buffer vehicle, ST lesions attenuated the memory enhancement produced by posttraining intracaudate injection of oxotremorine. In v iew of anatomical evidence indicating that amygdalostriatal projection s are nonreciprocol, the present findings suggest that amygdala output via the ST is essential for memory enhancement produced by intracauda te injection of oxotremorine. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.